Who, when afflicted with
calamity, say: "Truly! To Allâh we belong and truly, to
Him we shall return." (2:156)
They are those on whom are the
Salawât (i.e. blessings, etc.) (i.e. who are
blessed and will be forgiven) from their Lord, and
(they are those who) receive His Mercy, and it is they
who are the guided-ones.(2:157)
The Prophet's {p.b.u.h} Giving of
Glad Tidings In the Hardest of Situations
What we Muslims need today is a
change of understanding; we need to step out of our
time and place and see our situation in light of the
laws that Allah placed in His creation, and the
guidance that He sent His Messenger, sallallahu `alayhi
wa sallam, with.
And don't be weak in the pursuit
of the enemy; if you are suffering (hardships) then
surely, they (too) are suffering (hardships) as you are
suffering, but you have a hope from Allâh (for the
reward, i.e. Paradise) that for which they hope not,
and Allâh is Ever All-Knowing, AllWise.
(4:104]
We see in the Seerah (life) of the
Messenger, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, that he would
give glad tidings in the hardest of moments.
We may think at times there is
no escape for the Ummah (nation), but we have to
remember, Allah has promised victory to this Ummah, a
victory He will bring when He wants, due to His Wisdom.
Our situation is one of weakness and we know it will
change to one of strength.
Imam Ahmad (RH)was quoted as saying that the Falsehood
will not be manifest over the Truth until our hearts
leave the Truth. We are certain, when we fulfill the
conditions of victory, that the Truth will be manifest
over the Falsehood. We know it is near, though it may
not be two weeks. With Allah, it is close, as even the
Day of Judgment is referred to as "Tomorrow".
O you who believe! Fear Allâh and
keep your duty to Him. And let every person look to
what he has sent forth for tomorrow, and fear Allâh.
Verily, Allâh is All-Aware of what you do.
(59:18)
The following are three dire
situations from the Prophet's Seerah during which he
reassured and gave glad tidings to his followers.
The Prophet,
sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, in Ta'if
"When the harm and plotting of the
Quraish increased, after the death of the Prophet's,
sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, uncle and wife, he headed
to Taif hoping that he might find in this trip greater
attentivenes and support for his message. Instead, they
turned him away in a very impolite manner. They
encouraged their children to stone him. They stoned him
until blood emerged from his shoes.[Al-Sibai, "The
Prophet's Seerah, p. 36]
"Given this support and auspicious
start, depression, dismay and sadness that used to
beset him since he was driven out of At-Ta’if, he
turned his face towards Makkah with fresh determination
to resume his earlier plan to expose people to Islam
and communicate his Message in a great spirit of zeal
and matchless enthusiasm.
Zaid bin Harithah, his companion,
addressing the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, 'How
dare you step into Makkah after they (Quraish) have
expatriated you?'
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) answered:
'Hearken Zaid, Allâh will surely provide relief and
He will verily support His religion and Prophet.'"
[Al-Mubaarakfuri: Ar-Raheeq al-Makhtoom, "The Third
Phase Calling Unto Islam Beyond Makkah"]
The Prophet,
sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, With Abu Bakr During the
Hijrah
"The notables of Makkah convened an
emergency session to determine the future course of
action and explore all areas that could help arrest the
two men (Mohammed {SAW} and Abu-Bakr {RA}). They
decided to block all avenues leading out of Makkah and
imposed heavy armed surveillance over all potential
exits. A price of 100 camels was set upon the head of
each one. Horsemen, infantry and tracers of tracks
scoured the country. Once, they even reached the mouth
of the cave where the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and
Abu Bakr were hiding. When he saw the enemy at a very
close distance, Abu Bakr whispered to the Prophet
(Peace be upon him): 'What, if they were to look
through the crevice and detect us?' The Prophet (Peace
be upon him) in his God-inspired calm replied:
'Silence Abu Bakr! What do you think of those two
with whom the Third is Allâh.' It was really
a Divine miracle, the chasers were only a few steps
from the cave." [Al-Mubaarakfuri: Ar-Raheeq al-Makhtoom,
" Migration of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him)"]
"…In a version by Abu Bakr (May Allah
be pleased with him), he said: "We emigrated while the
Makkans were in pursuit of us. None caught up with us
except Suraqah bin Malik bin Ju‘sham on a horse. I
said: ‘O Messenger of Allâh, this one has caught up
with us.’ The Prophet (Peace be upon him) replied:
‘Don’t be cast down, verily,
Allâh is with us.’ [Al-Mubaarakfuri:
Ar-Raheeq al-Makhtoom, " Migration of the Prophet
(Peace Be Upon Him)"]
The Battle of the
Ditch
"It was the winter season, the air
was cold and there was a food crisis in Medina, which
was about to come under a brutal siege, and there is
nothing more deadly to the spirit of resistance than
despair, for if the besieged were to be exposed to its
violent bouts, the way of humiliating surrender would
be the only alternative. For this reason, the Prophet
strove hard to arouse the moral strength of his men to
the highest pitch so that they'd feel certain that the
triral which faced them was just a passing cloud which
would soon disperse, and thereafter Islam would resume
its march and people would enter into it in large
numbers, and the strongholds of tyranny would crumble
before it and no plots would come from them nor would
any evil be feard from them. It is a rule of politics
that this wide hope should accompany the stages of
ceasless effort." [Muhammad Al-Ghazali, Fiqh us-Seerah,
p. 308]
"Another illustrious preternatural
example went to the effect that an obstinate rock stood
out as an immune obstacle in the ditch. The Prophet
(Peace be upon him) took the spade and struck, and the
rock immediately turned into a loose sand dune. In
another version, Al-Bara‘ said: On Al-Khandaq (the
trench) Day there stood out a rock too immune for our
spades to break up. We therefore went to see the
Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) for advice. He
took the spade, and struck the rock uttering
'in the Name of Allâh, Allâh is
Great, the keys of Ash-Shâm (Geographical Syria) are
mine, I swear by Allâh, I can see its palaces at the
moment;' on the second strike he said:
'Allâh is Great, Persia is mine,
I swear by Allâh, I can now see the white palace of
Madain;' and for the third time he struck the
rock, which turned into very small pieces, he said:
'Allâh is Great, I have been
given the keys of Yemen, I swear by Allâh, I can see
the gates of San‘a while I am in my place.' The
same version was narrated by Ishaq."
[Al-Mubaarakfuri: Ar-Raheeq al-Makhtoom, "Al-Ahzab (the
Confederates) Invasion"]
"So when the confederates swept down
upon Medina and laid a tight siege around it, the
Muslims did not give up in despair but faced the bitter
reality with unshakeable hope in a noble future.
And when the believers saw
AlAhzâb (the Confederates), they said: "This is
what Allâh and His Messenger (Muhammad SAW)
had promised us, and Allâh and His Messenger (Muhammad
SAW) had spoken the truth, and it only added
to their faith and to their submissiveness (to Allâh).
(33:22)
As for the weaklings, the doubters
and the sick of heart, they made fun of the promises of
victory and thought them to be the desires of deluded
people, and they said to the Prophet:
'He tells you that he sees from Yathrib the palaces of
Hirah and the city of Kisra, while you are there
digging the ditch and you cannot pass stool (for
fear).'
About them Allah says,
And when the hypocrites and those
in whose hearts is a disease (of doubts) said: "Allâh
and His Messenger (SAW) promised us nothing
but delusions!" (33:12)
[Muhammad Al-Ghazali, Fiqh us-Seerah, p. 310-311]
Twelve or thirteen years later, the
Prophet's promise about Persia came true.
Maybe it should be noted here that
the hypocrites of today are also telling us that Allah
has promised us nothing but delusion - those hypocrites
who want removal or change of the Shari`ah. Beware of
them, because they promise us nothing but delusion.
And he (the man) from Egypt who
bought him, said to his wife: "Make his stay
comfortable, may be he will profit us or we shall adopt
him as a son." Thus did We establish Yûsuf (Joseph) in
the land, that We might teach him the interpretation of
events. And Allâh has full power and control over His
Affairs, but most of men know not. (12:21)
